Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Key Strategies In Effective Pastoral Leadership In The Africa Gospel Church, Kenya: Biblical Foundations For Leadership And Healthy Church Growth, Philip Ngasura

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this Thesis Project is to understand the strategies for effective pastoral leadership based on Biblical foundations necessary for leadership and healthy church growth in the Africa Gospel Church-Kenya. Research will be conducted through questionnaires and surveys of 15-20 Christian Leaders analyzing and evaluating the status of urban churches, rural churches, mission fields, and institutions of the Africa Gospel Church-Kenya. The main objective is to provide key principles for effective pastoral leadership and healthy church growth in terms of spiritual life, leadership, staff development, services, finances, and ministry potentials. Lastly, this project will suggest and outline strategic approaches …

Loving Your Neighbor: A Guide To Developing And Sustaining Community Service Projects, Rickey Houston

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A current ministry concern is mobilizing and engaging the congregation in service projects throughout the immediate and surrounding communities to spread the love of Christ and build the kingdom of God. The purpose of this project is to examine and shed light on an approach or approaches to effectively transform service beyond the walls of the congregation to intentional, appropriate, and relevant service within the community. This subject matter has the potential of transforming congregations from a predominant notion of interaction with self to interaction with organizations and individuals who are part of the church's mission field. In addition, there …

Modeling Spiritual Formation From A Distance: Paul's Formation Transactions With The Roman Christians, Benjamin Forrest, Mark A. Lamport

Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article proposes that Paul's letter to the church in Rome can identify processes involved in offering a spiritually formative education from a distance. When Paul wrote the letter to Rome, he wrote to a church he had never visited. We argue that his relationship with the recipients is analogically similar to the relationship between professor and student in an online, educational paradigm. Paul modeled how to offer this spiritually formative relationship by emphasizing the gospel message, grounding his scriptural authority, personalizing his message, anticipating questions, enlisting the community, encouraging the recipients, praying for needs, and explaining the marks of …

A Nation In Its Prime: A Pentadic Study Of Walt Disney World's Main Street, U.S.A., Casey Guise

Masters Theses

The purpose of this paper is to consider the entrance to Walt Disney World, Main Street, U.S.A., as a rhetorical text and apply Kenneth Burke's dramatistic pentad. Background is provided on rhetorical theory and The Disney Company. Meanings are derived from messages interpreted using semiotics and symbolic interaction within the location. The significance of Main Street, U.S.A., as a replica of historic architecture and an illustration of revival architecture in creating emotive messages is discussed. Further discussion includes the implications of this study on corporations and the field of rhetorical studies in addition to suggestions for further research.

"It's Just That For The First Time, I Feel... Wicked": A Rhetorical Analysis Of Wicked's Elphaba Using Kenneth Burke's Guilt-Purification-Redemption Cycle, Patricia Foreman

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the Broadway production, Wicked, and more specifically, the character of Elphaba, or the Wicked Witch of the West. The study utilized Kenneth Burke's theory of the guilt-purification-redemption cycle, and considered Elphaba's journey between the three steps of Burke's cycle. In order to understand this journey better, the researcher considered various facets of the show, including the script, lyrics, costuming, including attire and make-up, and interactions with other characters in the production. Elphaba's causes of guilt, including her mother's death, her relationship with Glinda, her cause in working with Animals, and failed magic …

They Came Up Out Of The Water: Evangelicalism And Ethiopian Baptists In The Southern Lowcountry And Jamaica, 1737-1806, Samantha Futrell

Masters Theses

The Ethiopian Baptists in the eighteenth century Atlantic were not actually Ethiopians at all, but people of West African descent, traded as slaves to the southern lowcountry and Jamaica. Their identification with Ethiopia did not come from their geographic ancestry, but from a Christian heritage that they became a part of when they accepted the salvation of Jesus Christ. The evolution of this evangelical Afro-Baptist movement occurred in three stages. First, white evangelicals, like George Whitefield, carried Christianity to African American populations in South Carolina during the Great Awakening. Second, African American leaders, such as George Liele, rose up as …

Dark Night Of The Mind, Sabrina Hardy

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis is composed of five short stories held together with an overarching meta-narrative. Each individual story and the framework narrative deal with the themes of psychological abnormalities and the supernatural. A variety of techniques are used, including first, second, and third person point of views, epistolary formatting, metaphysical storylines, and various dialects.

Hermeneutics And Exegesis, Norm Mathers

SOR Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Creating And Sustaining A Health And Wellness Ministry, Gary Moritz

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis will focus on creating and sustaining a health and wellness ministry within the local church. The local church should be not only a place that promotes spiritual health, but one that promotes and advocates for physical health and wellness. The thesis will outline how Capital Baptist Church (CBC) is making a growing and sustaining impact within the local church, community, and throughout the United States, while meeting a vital need in today's culture through a holistic Christian approach to life. This document will be a tool for other local churches to use in starting and sustaining a health …

Educate To Equip: A Model For Educational Short-Term Missions As A Ministry Of The Local Church, Steven Curtis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Recent data show that most short-term mission trips are focused on economic and social development projects coupled with intentional and/or relational evangelism, while reproducible models for in-depth theological education during short-term missions are rare. As a missionary presently ministering in a number of underdeveloped nations, this writer has witnessed the need for, and potential benefit of, such models. To validate these conclusions, research was conducted among missions agencies and church-based missions departments to determine the efficacy of existing models to meet the educational needs in the field, as assessed through personal interviews with pastors from a representative sample of underdeveloped …

Serving God In The Midst Of Multiple Sclerosis: A Holistic And Spiritual Model For Physical Sustainment, Timothy Harville

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Multiple Sclerosis is a devastating disease that affects not only the one who suffers with MS, but also their family and relationships leaving the patient feeling depressed and without hope. If the disease is disclosed, many churches and the International Mission Board will reject the person's application because of the potential cost and medical care needed. This author was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis in 2008. This writer has experienced the obstacles described above. This model will serve as a motivational tool to help all of us who suffer with MS to use the disability for …

Transitions: Surviving Congregational Change, Reginald Weems

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Holston Baptist Association is the oldest Baptist Association in Tennessee. Established in 1786, the Association presently boasts 106 congregations. Yet for all of its success, statistics reveal that pastoral longevity is not the norm for its churches. This project will analyze the tenure of present pastors within the Holston Baptist Association and provide a blueprint for pastoral longevity in the midst of local church transitions. It will utilize the history of Heritage Baptist Church, Johnson City, Tennessee (USA) and the present pastor's 21-year tenure as a source of research and model for successfully navigating that change. Although specifically intended …

Strategy For Merging Unhealthy Churches And Leading The Merged Congregation To A Healthy Christ-Centered New Testament Church, Samuel Holdbrook-Smith

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The hypothesis of this project is that merging two or more local churches is a practical option to growing a healthy Christ-centered New Testament church as opposed to closing those declined and dying churches. This project will examine and evaluate the merger process of Charles Wesley United Methodist Church and Earle's Chapel United Methodist Church in 2005, led by the author to form a new congregation called New Life Community United Methodist Church. A post-merger questionnaire will be developed and used to evaluate the merger process. Second, a healthy growth ministry plan will be developed and implemented to lead the …

The Fight For The Family: Biblical Applications For Navigating Life's Toughest Challenges In Ministry, Wendell Bishop

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis project is an assessment of the life of a minister's family. The purpose of this project is to prepare new pastors, missionaries, and other Christian leaders so that they do not lose their own children while they are reaching the world. After careful research from contemporary ministries and research projects, the Christian leader will be aware of the challenges before him or her and have biblical applications that will help the families navigate through the difficult life of ministry. As a result of reading this thesis project, the reader will become aware of the battle that is taking …

Reducing The Divorce Rate Among Christians In America: Making Premarital Counseling Prerequisite For Marriage, Scott Vail

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

God instituted the covenant of marriage to provide the means by which two individuals become one for life. This covenant between a man and a woman is intended to satisfy the God-given longing each person has to love and be loved for a lifetime. The reality is, according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2008, the divorce rate in America is nearly fifty percent. To remedy this, the church must require a formal premarital program as a prerequisite for marriage. The result would be fewer divorces and an increase in marital satisfaction. Resources formerly consumed by counseling and ministering …

The Efficacy Of A Manualized Group Treatment Protocol For Changing God Image, Attachment To God, Religious Coping, And Love Of God, Others, And Self, Jacqueline D. Rasar, Fernando L. Garzon, Frederick Volk, Carmella A. O'Hare, Glendon L. Moriarty

Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study compared the efficacy of a manualized group treatment protocol on God image and attachment to God to a manualized Christian Bible study and a waiting list control group in a sample of undergraduate college students attending a Christian college. Thirty students were randomly assigned to one of the treatment conditions and assessed with measures of God attachment, God image, religious coping, and general spiritual outcomes. It was hypothesized that significant God image and attachment change would occur among the God image treatment group participants only. In addition, it was hypothesized that significant religious coping and spiritual outcome change …

Bold Faith, Elmer L. Towns

Books

No abstract provided.

My Father's Names: Group Study Guide, Elmer L. Towns

Books

No abstract provided.

Stories About My First Church, Elmer L. Towns

Books

No abstract provided.

Fasting With The Lord's Prayer, Elmer L. Towns

Books

No abstract provided.

Mathers Systematic Theology - Chapter 2, Norm Mathers

Faculty Publications and Presentations

INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES

2.1 The Inspiration of the Scriptures involves the accurate recording of the revelation.

2.1.1 Central Passages establish the inspiration of the Scriptures.

2.1.1.1 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Praying For Your Job (Chinese), Elmer L. Towns

Towns Foreign Language Book Collection

No abstract provided.

Christ’S Death For Sinners, Norm Mathers

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Christ’s Death for Sinners “for all have sinned and they themselves fall short of the glory of God being justified freely by his grace through the redemption which in Christ Jesus:” (Romans 3:23-24) [author’s translation]

An Intelligent Critique Of Multiple Intelligences: A Christian Review For Leaders, David A. Mcgee, Bryce Hantla

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Ideas have consequences—for good or bad. The apostle Paul, in his letter to a group of Romans, stated that the metaphysical world could be known to humanity (Rom 1:18ff). Over 1,800 years later, Emanuel Kant, a German philosopher, challenged this view of the metaphysical world; that is, Kant claimed that God could not be known, and western Christian philosophy has scrambled ever since to make sense of the two.1 On a similar scale, Howard Gardner, professor at Harvard University, challenged the prevailing view of intelligence in 1983 with his book Frames of Mind, stating that there were a number of …

Core Christianity: What Is Christianity All About? (Spanish), Elmer Towns

Towns Foreign Language Book Collection

No abstract provided.

Teaching Children According To Learning Preference, Anne J. Derby

Senior Honors Theses

Several learning preferences describe students learning preferences. Learning sequence influences teaching order. Contemporary lecture-based, small group based, and activity-based methods for teaching are evaluated for which learning preferences are most compatible with each teaching method. Products can aid the teacher and student in their respective roles during the lesson. Other resources can instruct the people who lead the lesson in the classroom.

Romantic Exoticism: The Music Of Elsewhere In The Nineteenth Century, Josiah Raiche

Senior Honors Theses

Western art music has drawn on many sources. One of these is non-western music, which can be integrated into European classical music tradition in the form of exoticism. This paper will highlight musical elements used by composers seeking to create exoticism, examine selected works, and note common elements of western music that have exotic roots. In the nineteenth century, there were three general trends in exoticism. The first, non-musical exoticism, utilizes conventional western music alongside extra-musical exotic elements. Romantic exoticism portrays distant lands using musical elements, drawing these from the audience’s perceptions of the music represented. Realistic exoticism attempts to …

The History And Process Of The Development Of The Modern Flute, Sarah E. Vitullo

Senior Honors Theses

The flute has gone through many phases of development starting from its early form to the modern model which is played today. Though many important flute makers, composers and musicians were part of this process, Johann Joachim Quantz and Theobald Boehm were the two major contributors to the flute’s technological developments. The flute started as a simple tube with holes to which keys were progressively added by Quantz. Boehm completely redesigned the flute to enable the performer to cover more holes than the human hand fingers alone are capable. Although the work of Quantz and Boehm took time to become …

A Survey Of Christian Cross-Over Songwriting: Core Principles And Potential For Impact, Paul Malhotra

Senior Honors Theses

A cross-over song has been defined as a song written by a Christian artist aimed at a mainstream audience. An understanding of the core principles of cross-over songs and their relevance in contemporary culture is essential for Christian songwriters. Six albums marked by spiritual overtones or undertones, representing a broad spectrum of contemporary cross-over music, were examined. Selected songs were critiqued by analyzing the album of origin, lyrical content, author’s expressed worldview, and level of commercial success. Renaissance art also provided a historical parallel to modern day songwriting. Recommendations were developed for Christian songwriters to craft songs with greater effectiveness …

A Thread In Japan’S History: The Historical Journey Of Japanese Christianity To The Brink Of Modern Japan, Rebecca Velker

Senior Honors Theses

A Jesuit missionary named Francis Xavier pioneered the Christian faith in Japan in 1549. Japan was open to the gospel, and many missionaries followed Francis Xavier. Japanese people from a wide range of social standings supported Christianity for a variety of reasons. The Tokugawa government soon viewed Christianity as a threat to the authority of the Japanese government. Japan persecuted the Christians and the Japanese church was driven underground. Over two hundred years later during the Meiji Restoration, Japan altered its policies towards the West and tolerated Christianity in Japan. Despite never being fully welcomed, the Christian belief resonated with …